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PAWS Mailing Address:
PO Box 1037
Lynnwood WA, 98046

PAWS Physical Address:
15305 44th Ave W
Lynnwood, WA 98037

Answering the Call for Helpby Kevin Mack, PAWS Wildlife Naturalist

If you were to spend a day answering the telephone in the PAWS Wildlife
Center, you would quickly realize that our work with wildlife reaches
far beyond the walls of the center. During the spring and summer, we
may receive 50 or more calls per day, and many of them involve animals
that we will never see firsthand. The calls are varied, to say the
least, and you can never be sure what to expect when you pick up that
phone. There are, however, a few categories into which calls can be
broken down, and the four that are listed below should give you a good
idea of the calls we typically receive.

Human/Wildlife Conflict

Many of the calls we receive come from people who are involved in some
sort of conflict with wildlife in their area. The conflict may be a
simple matter of perception, as when someone sees a raccoon pass
through their yard and they become concerned for their pets and
children, or it may involve a situation where wild animals are damaging
plants or property. Whatever the situation, our goal when answering
these calls is to find a solution that will meet the needs of both the
caller and the animals involved. When handling these calls, PAWS staff
and volunteers must be equal parts counselor, naturalist, and
troubleshooter. They must address the caller's frustration, interpret
the wild animal's behavior, and come up with a humane way to alleviate
the conflict. Conflict calls are always interesting, and frequently
challenging.

Two calls that I answered in the past week were perfect examples of
typical wildlife conflict calls. The first came from a man who was
upset because a woodpecker was drilling a large hole in the side of his
house. I already knew the answer to my first question which was, "Do
you by any chance have natural wood siding on your house?"

This infant Short-tailed Weasel is currently in care at the PAWS Wildlife Center.

The caller confirmed that he did
indeed have natural wood siding. I explained that from a woodpecker's
perspective, natural wood siding is only found on trees and, since it
is now nesting season, this particular woodpecker probably thought she
was building her nest cavity in the biggest hollow tree she had ever
seen. I suggested that the caller hang a large sheet of thin plastic
over the area in which the woodpecker was concentrating her efforts.
With the wood covered up, the woodpecker would no longer recognize the
house as a tree, and would likely move elsewhere. The plastic could be
taken down in a month or so when woodpeckers are no longer building
nests. I asked the man to call back if the problem persisted. He did
not call back.

The other wildlife conflict call that I received came from a woman who
was distressed by a bird that, from her perspective, kept trying to get
into her house through a closed window. I gave her a description of an
American Robin and asked if it sounded like the bird in question. She
confirmed that the description was a good match. I then gave her a
little information about territorial behavior in male American Robins,
and told her that they will aggressively defend their nesting
territories against intruders. In this case, the robin was not aware
that the intruder in his territory was simply his own reflection in the
window glass. He was not trying to get inside the house, he was
unwittingly trying to drive himself out of his own territory. I
suggested that she hang streamers or a windsock in front of the window
to reduce reflection and obstruct the robin's view of himself. Again, I
asked the caller to let us know if the problem persisted, but she has
not called back. The robin is probably relieved that he finally drove
off that persistent rival that seemed to know his every move.

These are but two examples of the countless conflict situations that we
are presented with via phone here at PAWS. If you find yourself in
conflict with a wild animal on your property, we may be able to help.
Contact information for the PAWS Wildlife Center can be found at the
end of this article.

Suspected Orphaned Animal

Here are two views of a hungry nestling robin currently in care at the PAWS Wildlife Center.

Another type of call that we regularly
receive is the suspected orphan call. I say "suspected" because these
calls often involve animals that are not truly orphans. They may be
baby birds that are learning to fly, baby mammals that are hiding and
waiting for their mother's return, or animals that have fallen out of
the nest and simply need to be put back in. The challenge presented by
these calls is determining which animals really do need our help. As
breeding season for many species is now in full swing, you may come
across a young wild animal in the near future. If you would like to be
prepared for that possibility, I highly recommend reading the section
of the PAWS website titled "What to do when you find a baby animal". It
can be found at: www.paws.org/wildlife/injured/
Also, don't hesitate to call us here at the center if you need additional information.

Suspected Injured Animal

As with the suspected orphan calls, the animals involved in the
suspected injured calls are not always in need of help. Again the
challenge with these calls is to determine whether or not the animal
needs to be brought in for treatment. Fortunately, it is much easier to
determine whether or not an animal is injured than it is to determine
whether or not an animal is orphaned. A good example of this is a call
that I received last week about a Red-tailed Hawk. The caller suspected
that the hawk was injured. She believed he was injured because he was
standing on the ground in a field, and a half-dozen crows were
dive-bombing him. I asked her to approach the hawk and call me back if
he didn't fly away. She didn't call me back. Most likely the hawk had
landed on the ground while chasing prey in the field, and had then been
mobbed by the crows who were unhappy with the presence of a predator.
The hawk was sitting on the ground because he knew he would be an even
easier target for harassment once he was airborne. When the woman
walked out into the field, both the crows and the hawk were frightened
away by the large predator coming towards them. So in this case the
animal that appeared to be injured was just exhibiting behavior with
which the caller was not familiar. If you find a wild animal that is
injured, or that you suspect has been injured, please give us a call.

Miscellaneous

The three categories listed above cover a large percentage of the calls
that we receive, but we receive many miscellaneous calls as well. These
may include general questions on wild animal behavior or
identification, requests for information on our volunteer and other
programs, requests for assistance with school projects, and a variety
of other general inquiries.

Although we receive more than 4,500 animals each year at the wildlife
center, we undoubtedly affect the lives of many more through these
regular telephone interactions with the public. In some cases helping a
wild animal is a complicated procedure, requiring medical knowledge,
specialized equipment and months of care. In other cases helping a wild
animal is as simple as picking up the telephone...